Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Corrupt 'Kids for Cash' judge sentenced - ruined more than 2,000 lives

Larry Getlen
New York Post
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 21:24 UTC
Mark Ciavarella cash for kids
© Bill Tarutis for the Times Leader Sandy Fonzo of Wilkes-Barre screams at former Judge Mark Ciavarella saying that he was responsible for her son's suicide on the steps of the federal courthouse in Scranton in 2011.
Hillary Transue, 14, created a fake, humorous Myspace page about her school's vice principal.

Justin Bodnar, 12, cursed at another student's mother.

Ed Kenzakoski, 17, did nothing at all.

It didn't matter.

As we see in the documentary Kids for Cash, which opens Friday, all three Luzerne County, Pa. teens met the same fate for their minor infractions.

They were hauled into court with their parents, sometimes ­after being persuaded - coerced, according to at least one parent - by police to waive their right to ­legal counsel.

They were brought before Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and, without warning or the chance to offer a defense, found themselves pronounced guilty, shackled and sentenced to months of detention in a cockroach-infested jail.

They were trapped in the juvenile justice system for years, robbing most of them of their entire high-school experience.
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Folder

IRS leaked erroneous tax records to derail my Senate bid - Christine O'Donnell

Christine O'Donnell
New York Post
Sat, 22 Feb 2014 21:03 UTC
Christine O’Donnell IRS
© Associated PressRepublican U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's confidential tax documents were leaked to the press.
Whether Democrat or Republican, do you really want your private tax information leaked with impunity?

On March 9, 2010, around 10 a.m., I announced my plans to run for senate representing Delaware.

Later that same day, my office received a call from a reporter asking about my taxes.

It's since come out, after a halting and unenthusiastic investigation, that a Delaware Department of Revenue employee named David Smith accessed my records that day at approximately 2 p.m. - out of curiosity, he says.

That these records ended up in the hands of the press is just a coincidence, the IRS claims.

To add insult to injury, the tax records given to the reporters weren't even accurate. I had never fallen behind on my taxes, and a supposed tax lien was on a house I no longer owned.

The lien was highly publicized and used as political ammunition by my political opponents. The IRS later withdrew the lien and blamed it on a computer glitch but, at that point, the damage - and the invasion of my privacy - was done.

I wasn't the only one preyed upon by the IRS, of course. The agency admits to targeting conservative nonprofits, asking them for membership lists and other data not required while delaying their tax-exempt status. And opponents of President Obama have been subjected to audits soon after criticizing the administration.

What we all have in common: no answers.
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Handcuffs

Craigslist killing suspect's dad: She's a liar


The Buffalo News
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:56 UTC
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© WNEP
The father of a Pennsylvania woman who with her newlywed husband is charged with killing a man she met through Craigslist said he would support his daughter's execution if she is found guilty and even hold the hand of the victim's widow.

Sonny Dean also told The Daily Item newspaper on Wednesday that he believes his 19-year-old daughter, Miranda Barbour, may have been involved in one other murder besides the Nov. 11 fatal stabbing of Troy LaFerrara, 42, in Sunbury.

But he cast further doubt on Barbour's claim in a prison interview that she had killed more than 20 other people. Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini said earlier this week that investigators have so far been unable to substantiate her claim.

Police said LaFerrara met Barbour through her Craigslist ad, which offered companionship in exchange for money.

Investigators allege the young woman stabbed LaFerrara, of Port Trevorton, about 20 times in her parked car as her husband, Elytte Barbour, held a cord tight against LaFerrara's neck from the back seat and then dumped his body in an alley.
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Apple Green

Anglican Bishops blame David Cameron for food bank crisis

Nicholas Watt
The Guardian
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesVincent Nichols described the government's welfare reforms as a disgrace.
David Cameron has been blamed by 27 Anglican bishops for creating a "national crisis" which has seen 500,000 people visit food banks since Easter last year.

In one of the most significant political interventions by leading members of the Church of England since the Faith in the City report in 1985, 25 of its bishops have blamed "cutbacks to and failures in the benefit system" for forcing people to use food banks. They are joined by two bishops from the Church in Wales, 14 Methodist districts chairs and two Quakers.

In an open letter published in the Daily Mirror on Thursday, the faith leaders write: "We must, as a society, face up to the fact that over half of people using food banks have been put in that situation by cutbacks to and failures in the benefit system, whether it be payment delays or punitive sanctions."

The intervention, part of the End Hunger Fast campaign which will be launched at the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday on 5 March, follows the description of the government's welfare reforms as a disgrace by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Vincent Nichols.
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Health

Man's back surgery on hold as doctors deny Covered California insurance coverage

Nick Janes
CBS News - Sacramento
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 23:43 UTC
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© CNN
A Sonora mechanic is in so much pain that he can barely walk, but he can't seem to find a doctor to fix his ailing back after he and his wife switched their insurance coverage through Covered California.

Chris Dunn reached out to CBS13 hoping we could get answers.

He needs his surgery yesterday. But instead of scheduling his date, he and his wife are navigating a confusing maze of doctors and insurance plans.

"Then it goes down, my feet are numb, like I can do this, and I can't feel it at all," he said.

His ailing back has him in almost constant agonizing pain. He walks with a limp and hasn't had a good night's sleep in months.

"I can't sleep on my back," he said. "I roll around all night, because I can't lay flat. I can't lay anywhere for more than five, 10 minutes."
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Bad Guys

French organic winemaker faces prison for defying pesticide order

Kim Willsher
The Guardian
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 13:36 UTC
France - wine
© AlamyThe French agriculture ministry is prosecuting Emmanuel Giboulot for failing to apply insecticide.
Emmanuel Giboulot to appear before judge in Dijon for refusing to treat vines against insect that spreads devastating disease

A French organic winemaker could face a prison sentence and a hefty fine after refusing to spray his vines with pesticide.

Emmanuel Giboulot will appear before a judge in the city of Dijon on Monday after defying an official order to treat his vineyard against an insect suspected of transmitting a devastating plant disease.

The cicadelle, the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus, is believed to be responsible for the spread of the grapevine disease flavescence dorée, which has affected vines in the Côte-d'Or region of Burgundy, where Giboulot produces Côte de Beaune and Hautes Côtes de Nuits wines.

Giboulot claims the pesticide is ineffective and damaging to pollinating insects such as bees, and insists the disease can be fought via more natural means.
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TV

Sochi Olympics close with breathtaking show as Russia finishes top in medals table


RT
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 13:40 UTC
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© Reuters / Eric GaillardOlympic Games mascots extinguish Olympic flame in a small cauldron in the stadium during the closing ceremony for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, February 23, 2014.
After two weeks of cheering, daring and record breaking, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games finally bids farewell as athletes and fans gather one final time to admire a sparkling closing ceremony at the Fisht Olympic Stadium.

The closing ceremony kicked off shortly after 8 p.m., maintaining the "20:14" theme. The display was a fantastic affair in "art-house style", with spectators continuing their trip through Russian culture. Fireworks lit up the sky as a boat carrying Lyuba, Yura and Valya floated over the audience, and glittering shoals of 'fish' swarmed underneath.
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© Reuters / Grigory Dukor
As the 'fish' formed the shapes of Olympic rings, one, in the top right hand corner ironically hovered in a small bud-shape, before victoriously bursting open.
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© Reuters / Eric Gaillard
The Russian flag was brought into the arena by the Russian athletes who led their country to gold at the games. Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC president Thomas Bach were among the crowds observing a subsequent rendition of the Russian national anthem sung by 1,000 children.
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Attention

A world map of where children go hungry

Christopher Mims
Quartz
Sat, 22 Feb 2014 12:43 UTC
Worldwide Hungry Children
© Per Square Mile/Tim De Chant Half of children in the reddest countries are dangerously underweight due to malnutrition.
Few maps are more concerning than this one. Created by journalist Tim De Chant, it shows the percentage of children in each country whose weight is "more than two standard deviations below the median of the NCHS/CDC/WHO International Reference Population."

In other words, this map depicts the percentage of children in each country who are dangerously underweight on account of malnutrition. (Quantifying just how underweight these children are is difficult without knowing the variation in weight in the study population.) Data are from 1990 to 2002 and countries in blue indicate no data was available.
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Nuke

One dead, 27 made ill by carbon monoxide poisoning at New York mall

Chris Michaud, Carey Gillam and Kevin Murphy
Reuters
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 11:13 UTC
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© AFP/File, Mira ObermanMost of the victims of a gas leak at a New York restaurant were workers
One man died and dozens more were treated in hospitals or at the scene after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning at a mall restaurant on New York's Long Island on Saturday evening, police said.

Police responding to a call about an injured woman at the Legal Sea Foods restaurant in Huntington Station, New York, found the 55-year-old manager unconscious in the basement, Suffolk County Police said.

The manager, identified by police as Steven Nelson, died of cardiac arrest as he was being transferred by ambulance said Julie Robinson-Tingue, a spokeswoman for Huntington Hospital.

Soon after arriving, police and emergency personnel felt nauseous and dizzy and recognized the symptoms as a carbon monoxide event, Suffolk County police said.
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Rainbow

Last of the Trapp Family Singers dies

Natalie DiBlasio
USA Today
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 11:04 UTC
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© Kerstin Joensson, APThis July 25, 2008 photo shows Maria von Trapp, daughter of Austrian Baron Georg von Trapp, smiling during a press conference at the Villa Trapp in Salzburg, Austria
Maria, the second-eldest daughter, was the basis for the Louisa character in 'The Sound of Music.'

So long, farewell to Maria von Trapp, the last surviving member of the Trapp Family Singers made famous in The Sound of Music. She died Tuesday, at age 99, at her home in Vermont.

"She was a lovely woman who was one of the few truly good people," her brother Johannes von Trapp said. "There wasn't a mean or miserable bone in her body. I think everyone who knew her would agree with that."

In 1938, the family escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria and performed concert tours throughout Europe and then a three-month tour in America.
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